Admissions Procedures

Sandford International School Revised Admissions Policy and Procedures

General

One of the objectives of Sandford International School in the provision of high quality education is to ensure that students are admitted to the school regardless of their nationality, race, gender and religion as long as they meet the required admission criteria. To this end the Board of Governors has adopted the following admissions policy and procedures. Our transparent and clear admissions policy has the following aims:

It ensures the best possible service to new student applicants and their families.

It helps to continuously monitor the numbers of places that are available for admitting new
students.

It will ensure that new students are accurately assessed for placement in the correct class.

It ensures that potential students and their families are kept fully informed about the status of their applications.

It provides clear information to school administration for monitoring fees and other payments with respect to new students.

Students Classification

When the school was founded in the 1940s, one of its founding principles was that national and international students should be educated alongside one another, irrespective of their place in society or the financial background of their parents. In order to better serve parents and students, the school classifies students into two categories:

a. International students: Shall mean students where at least one parent holds a valid foreign passport.

b. National Students: shall mean students where at least one parent holds a valid Ethiopian passport.

In order to maintain a reasonable balance of the mix of students, the school has allocated 40% of places across all year groups to international students and 60% to national students. As far as possible this mix will be maintained in both Primary and Secondary divisions.

Admissions procedures

The first contact that a potential student’s family has with Sandford International School is through the Admissions Office. All stages of the application process are handled professionally and provide clear information to both the school and the parents. The following steps should be followed in
all cases, with a clear understanding that the applicants are ‘customers’ of the school.

International Students

All families applying to Sandford will be met by the Admissions Officer. Should the Admissions Officer not be available, the School Secretary or the Principals of Primary or Secondary school will meet the family. Initial information to be given will include the school brochure, fee details and application form(s) plus written details of admission test dates and procedures.

International parents applying for admission of their children should note that there may be a waiting list to fairly allocate places in all year groups on a first‐come‐first‐serve basis. It is therefore important to submit all required documentation to the Admissions Office and find out whether your application is on the waiting list. Since admission of siblings is handled on the basis of available places, it is highly recommended for international parents that they register pre-school siblings on the waiting list too.